On an icy November morning in southern Alberta, I woke up to a Division 1 college basketball team featuring young men willing to brave the elements in the name of toughness and conditioning. Multiple players and a coach even had their shirts off in the frigid negative-19 degree Celsius Lethbridge air.
Later that evening, a few thousand hoops-starving and mostly Canadian supporters began filling the arena for the third day of American college basketball.
The message from the locals and the nation to me was clear. Canada needs more college basketball.
In today’s era of Name, Image, and Likeness compensation – schools are exploring the globe looking to lure the best talent to the ever-popular college basketball product. It’s a sport which features an event that brings in nearly USD $9 billion dollars in annual revenue – March Madness.
Canada today has become a major player in the fabric of college basketball from top to bottom. A record-breaking 170 players hail from the Great White North here in the 2024-2025 season. Growth rates continue to surge. Popularity of basketball among the Canadian youth continues to surge.
The question now becomes, will it ever be possible to bring the greatest sporting event in the world to Canada?
College sports are going through a transformational time in history as we ponder this Canada question together. The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a complicated beast. The organization itself has lost numerous lawsuits in recent years and is making the shift to consider these athletes as players who can and should be compensated as well as be students.
As the NCAA has lost its grip of control, conferences led by the SEC, Big Ten, and Big 12 are changing the game by adding more teams to their own leagues, adding bigger television deals for league games, and by utilizing seemingly endless resources to ensure the top talent stays.
For some folks in the power conference scene, ideas of starting their own version of March Madness to make it more exclusive are out there. Which is a scary thought. Messing with the fundamentals of a perfectly aligned bracket, with perfectly sequential games between Thursday-Sunday in late March each year is a major risk.
The lure and the captivating value for many is the exercise of filling out a bracket! This cannot be compromised. The larger audience would lose interest. The coming years provide opportunities to re-shape the landscape of college basketball.
Love and passion for this game fill the hearts of many of us who love it dearly, and it needs to be protected.
Why not Canada?
Locations and sites have been announced through 2028. The NCAA Division 1 has 364 members, all of which are in the 50 United States. If and when a Canadian university can break through as a member, I believe the doors can open to having postseason games north of the U.S.-Canada border. Until then, the focus should be on NCAA D1 membership for top Canadian programs. The burgeoning talent pool is simply too strong to ignore at this point. Teams who brave the Canadian winter to play hoops become tougher, better, and more connected. The case study in Lethbridge – the Western Slam multi-team even that took place in November – proves this.As we enter one of the best days of the year, embrace the journey and savor the Madness! (And don’t forget to fill out your bracket).
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